In legal language, this rule is called Rule of Last seen togather.
This rule is applied in many crimes where a dead body is found but there are no eye witnesses to tell how crime has happened.
Police will first try to locate the person with whom deceased was last seen.
Once such person is located, this person is thoroughly investigated in police custody.
If he fails to give satisfactory account of what happened after they were last seen togather, he can be produced in court as an accused.
The court will then examine a long series of circumstances before applying this Rule of Last Seen Together and before convicting him.
The point is: Court places burden on accused to explain his suspicious movement.
Haresh Raichura
2/7/2014